Highlandman

Yes.

He's a Thai citizen.

In my experience they don't open anything unless they believe something suspicious is going on. A lightweight, low value item generally passes through without further inspection. The invoice is attached in a pouch outside the box, easy to see how much the item is valued at without opening the box.

I think you're mistaken. Even 4 years ago you had to pay duties on a $10 item if imported through DHL or another courier unless the item was a document or book (and even if it was a book but with an assessed value above 1500 Baht it would have been subjected to import duties if the tax hadn't already been collected at the time of shipping). Supplements were taking 3 weeks to clear customs, which is why I vowed to never ship them with a courier again. Whereas postal deliveries are very efficient with no delays. I've had postal deliveries from overseas delivered directly as recently as Sunday a week ago. No changes to the past. So far at least. I have two packages in transit I thought would have been delivered by now. I probably should have ordered them a few days earlier. The first one looks like it will pass through customs tomorrow or May 1 and be delivered the following day. Can't say whether I'll be stung for VAT payment or not. If it passes through customs tomorrow I'd say probably not, even if only delivered on May 1 but if it's even a day later it's a maybe. The second one claims to be in country already but on the Thai postal website it says it hasn't arrived yet. I expect it to arrive as early as tomorrow (they won't enter the number into the system until its scanned by them at the postal customs office) and so I won't know until 9am tomorrow. Got a friend going to the USA for a few days to bring back some items so I'll have him carry some things back for me so I should be good for some time without needing to order anything else for now. I'll be real curious to see how they assess duties on postal imports from now on, if they actually go ahead with it. If duties are collected by the merchant, I'll be fine with it but if not it could end up being a pain. All remains to be seen.

That's strange. Never happened to me before. In fact, parcels valued at up to around 1800 Baht are usually delivered without incident despite technically being above the 1500 duty free limit. I've noticed on iHerb, if you order supplements through them and select the Flash express option, there are prepaid duties payable. By selecting the postal delivery method, they claim your order will be subjected to duties on orders above 1500 Baht but in practice they have been more obliging. I've sent a good 100 packages over the past few years so am pretty well versed with all of this. DHL, FedEx and any other courier is a no no though as they'll assess duties regardless of the value of the item (even if it's 100 Baht) unless it's a book or document, in which case they'll deliver directly. Any supplements that go through DHL take an incredible 3 weeks to clear customs, prior to which you need to fill out some paperwork and provide a copy of your ID/passport. None of this nonsense is required if using the postal system. Never send anything but documents through a courier as you'll regret it. The postal system is much faster and more reliable.

That would be crazy. They've been doing that for high value imports or anything that they believe needs to be inspected but it isn't practical to do this for every parcel imported. It will create a huge mess.

Cambodia has an equivalent of the TM30, which, unlike Thailand is an absolute requirement for extending a visa. I say this because each immigration office is different. While many require a TM30, not all of them do. One difference is that the Cambodian system doesn't appear to require re-registration if you've traveled somewhere.

Back then they still did dual pricing. Not anymore now.

Officially, haircuts and street markets aren't supposed to have dual pricing and you can refuse to pay the higher price. Any attempt to charge foreigners more depends on how gullible the foreign customers are. Vietnam has unofficial dual pricing at many tourist restaurants and tour programs as well. However, officially, dual pricing is limited to a small number of tourist sites. The only one I can think of right now which still charges foreigners more than locals is the Hue imperial palace. Elsewhere, it's what the locals think they can get away with (experienced this once at a Phu Quoc seafood restaurant, where ironically, I was present with a group of Thais as well as my father, a Chinese lady and a Vietnamese friend). Thanks to him, the restaurant didn't succeed in ripping us off, but probably would have if he hadn't been present. I was referring more to "official" dual pricing, which mainly applies at tourist sites including national parks (for 2.5 months beginning in mid December and ending February 29 this year, foreigners could actually enter a select number of national parks for free (once only for each park), while Thais paid the normal entrance fee). Perhaps later this year, they'll do the promotion again. Museums, temples and even marathon entrance fees are higher for foreigners. Malaysia does the same at many tourist attractions. China used to practice dual pricing until 20 or 25 years ago, but now the only possible exemptions to the uniform pricing policy would be for locals who live in the town/city/district where the attraction is located. Otherwise, Chinese people from anywhere else in the country and foreigners pay the same.

I think it's probably Austria not Australia.

Agreed. Covid is over and masks are not only unfriendly but can present a security risk as you can't identity someone who's wearing one. Perhaps it's time to put up signs like "if you're wearing a mask, no entry" as is happening in New York, due to an uptick in crime. Problem is, Thais love their masks so much, they might start rioting if someone dared tell them to go "naked".

To some extent, yes, but it's probably even stricter in Thai culture.

What's wrong with Thai owned airlines? They seem as safe as any European airline at the moment and possibly safer than American ones, given the spate of recent incidents.

I never wear masks. Never even wore one during Covid. A lot of Thais however still wear them. My breath is also good, unlike those people such as yourself, who still wear a mask.

The passengers were probably sheepishly wearing their masks, therefore unable to smell anything but their bad breath. Thais never complain, it's part of the culture to let authority or those in power do whatever they want to you.

All would be forgiven if only Urs Fehr would wear a mask.

I think you'll find immigration goes through their database and picks up anomalies and acts on them. Nobody reported that farang who overstayed his visa by one day who was arrested at Phuket Airport not long ago. No one reported that foreigner who was 3 hours short of overstaying and arrested at his residence, also in Phuket (meaning he was arrested at 9pm on the last day of his visa). The latter case strikes me as strange, immigration isn't supposed to come after someone who isn't yet on overstay, even if it looks like you will.

I think you'll find that is a misnomer. Thais wear masks regardless of the air quality. More Thais wear masks indoors, where the air quality is good, than outdoors. Thais are still afraid of catching Covid, the flu, or not catching the glance of a double masked grandma giving a disapproving look. Thais are afraid of being judged by strangers, so they'd rather mask than being given a dirty look.

In the rainy season, roughly the same % of Thais will be wearing masks as now. Although to be fair there are slightly fewer mask wearers now than back in July or August of last year as the fear mongering over Covid wanes. Still, last year I'd estimate an average of 75% of Thais were masked while indoors, at least in Bangkok. Today it's down to 50-60%. The corresponding percentages in upcountry cities are roughly 50% and maybe 1 in 3, respectively (comparing middle of last year with now). In tourist areas, it's much lower, but keep in mind Thais are a minority in many such areas. Thais don't mask up due to air pollution, except up north when the air quality becomes really bad. In general, Thais are still afraid of being the "black sheep" who can think for themselves.

Where is your girlfriend from? I hope you didn't cancel your trip based on this story alone, which you should clearly recognize as being a joke. Obviously, if there were any reality to it, major news outlets would be reporting it, just like happened with the vaccine debacle on January 9, 2023, when foreigners (but not Thais) were required to be vaccinated or hold a medical exemption to travel. The outrage generated, which included many canceled bookings, resulted in the almost immediate revocation of the vaccine order and a lot of egg on the face of Thai officials. Some airlines such as THAI, tried to reimpose a mask mandate on inbound flights too. No idea whether this was enforced beyond January 9. I do know foreign airlines never enforced this "suggestion" at the time.

I'm regularly in Laos and most recently in Luang Prabang, I saw two Laotians wearing masks. Just 2. All the rest (and there weren't many) were Thai tourists. In the Lao countryside no one wears a mask and mask wearing is at no more than 5% even in Vientiane. And no, masks don't work. They're a feel good device, nothing else. Still, I'm not stopping you from wearing one. I'm just saying you're one of the very few people in Laos wearing one and probably the only falang.

I've lived in the USA Being white in a black neighborhood is asking to be beaten up. Same with Thailand then. I've never seen a shooting or any major crime unfold here; only happens on the news. I maintain the FACT Thailand is safer. You're safer in terms of NOT getting robbed. You're safer in terms of not getting randomly beaten up. Crime is far more common in the USA. Period.

But you'll need a mask and a neck brace to qualify.

You must be the only person in Laos still wearing a mask. There's a term in the industry we use for people like you: a virtue signaler.

As it turns out, masks are STILL mandatory in a very small number of settings in Thailand, though obviously none of them single out foreigners as such. Some companies still require their staff wear masks, though not customers. Tops is one example and of course countless restaurants and convenience stores. In October 2023, my boss and I visited a Japanese manufacturing company just outside Bangkok for a business meeting and both masks and a self-administered antigen test were a requirement to get in to the building. There was also the hand temperature scanner, though only employees were required to use that. Once in the meeting room, there were partitions between us and the Japanese manager we spoke with. His mask was so tightly sewn to his face, I think it's been permanently attached since January 2020. I'm almost certain they're still requiring all this now, in April 2024. Yet I came in drinking coffee and they offered us bottles of water! Why then, all the Covid nonsense then? The Chinese visa application centers in Bangkok and Chiang Mai still require masks. You'll get in with a mask on your chin but no mask at all = no entry. I hear some immigration offices would prefer you to wear a mask, though none of them currently require you to anymore so no issues there. However, they stopped late. I hear masks still being a requirement as late as mid 2023 at some offices! As previously pointed out, some schools and even nurseries continue to require students to wear masks. The brainwashing starts early in Thailand. I'm sure there are more examples than this. Your average tourist or expat will generally not be asked to put on a mask anymore as they won't be visiting such settings, but in some instances, it could still be a thing for certain groups of locals and foreigners.